was thinking of starting chichlid tank but ain't sure where to start firstly from what i understand they have different needs to other tropicals eg: ph levels,etc and that they can be teratorial,also is it important that the fish are around the same size?, what are the temp ranges?

what type of gravel is best i'd like to acheive a sand type look with crushed gravel, what plants are best dont really want to put to many in though, and finally what to start with for the first cycle and how many

and whos got photos

..... i dont ask for much do i

Depends on what kinds of cichlids you're talking about? Tanganyikan and malawi cichlids generally prefer 8ish PHs. The rest of the africans and south and central american cichlids generally prefer right around 7, discus prefer lower.

So...Yeah, you need to be more specific. Saying "Cichlids prefer different PH from other fish" is about as specific as saying "fish prefer a different PH from other fish"

dont think i want discus as i heard they are hard to keep, i like the big yellow in your tank ira, what is it. Also like the fire mouths sorry for the lack of detail i obviously have a lot of reading to do, could you recomend any good sites?

The big yellow one is a gold severum. Severums a good medium sized beginner fish I think. Very outgoing and piggy little bastards, don't share the food.

Oh, and they're south americans, prefer a PH around 7, temp around 26 give or take a couple degrees. Not at all picky about it.

Excellent site called "GOOGLE".

Just type in wot ya wanna cheque then search.

Bingo, dozens pop up.

Alan

have already done that Alan most of its just crap !

www.cichlid-forum.com great site with info on heaps a species of cichlids

id go for crushed coral or granite substrate probably 1-3 mm size for malawis ansd tangs if you get dark coloured cichlids get light gravel if you get light cichlids get dark gravel

dont expect to be able to grow plants in tanks with medium to large cichlids cos their all miners and will dig your plants out

also if you want large ones be prepared to keep cleaning your tank often there messy eaters you would also need quite a large tank and high powered filtration

also b4 you go out and spend heaps of money on fish find out what you want and what their compatible with they get very teritorial and angry some might die and some might be eaten and theres nothing worse than having 10 tanks with one fish in each due to their bad tempers

been looking around some site and it looks like ill do a south american tank was in jensens today looking round and they have a few nice firemouths and green severiums....

where can i get crushed coral from?

What do you want the crushed coral for? Don't need it with a SA cichlid tank. That and I have no idea, I gave up and started buying bird grit to keep my PH up. Like $8 for a kilo.

Bird grit .....who would have thought aye what else does the bottom of your tank consist of Ira?

I put the bird grit in the cannister filter, not on the bottom of the tank.

oh ok.......... so whats on the bottom then i like the look that you have acheived, is it just a finer crushed gravel?

It's some nice coarse sand...Or fine gravel. I haven't been able to find it anywhere again, I bought out the fish store I got it at because the owner said the place he gets it stopped selling it in bags and only sells by the ton now. Average grain size is about a millimeter, made up of a mix of tan to black grains with some clear grains and occasional other colors. Put it like that it sounds kinda ugly like your standard fruit salad gravel, but it's much nicer looking than that.

How do you think the Sth American cichlids would go in a 110 litre hexagonal? I have been wanting to try them for a while.

bugger i think a ton would be a tad to much....., but then again if we could get a group buy thing happening it might work :lol:

They'd be extremely unhappy in a 110 liter hex. There wouldn't be any swimming room at all for them once they start to grow. Maybe dwarf cichlids would be ok.

Thanks Ira, will give it a miss then and wait for the next big tank.

Jo I keep meaning to ask are there any fish you want to spell over winter, my pool is chocker with mozzies. way too much for my fish to go through.

Shame we bought a couple of ponds to house the goldfish recently. Over run with tropicals but somhow don't think they would like the pond.

always have room for more trops